Obama told Jackson, who was the doctor for three presidents, that criticizing Biden’s mental state was ‘unprofessional’
According to a forthcoming book, former president Barack Obama censured his own former White House physician for criticizing Joe Biden’s cognitive health during the 2020 campaign.
As the White House physician to Presidents George W. Bush, Obama, and Donald Trump, Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, was uniquely qualified to criticize then-presidential candidate Joe Biden’s “crazy statements and concerning mental gaffes” in his memoir “Holding the Line: A Lifetime of Defending Democracy and American Values.”
“Biden was on TV again, making crazy statements and concerning mental gaffes; he didn’t know what state he was in or what office he was campaigning for,” Jackson recalls of the 2020 campaign season. “He apparently thought at one point that he was running for the Senate and later couldn’t remember what state he was campaigning in. This had been going on for months and was getting worse.”
In 2018, numerous critics made fun of Jackson for claiming that a cognitive assessment Trump had completed revealed he was in an “excellent” mental state and “had absolutely no cognitive or mental issues whatsoever.” For years, the media had accused Trump of having a mental illness.
“Trump never made crazy statements like the ones Biden was making almost every day,” Jackson writes in his book, “but these people were jumping up and down: ‘He’s not fit to be president; he needs a cognitive test!’”
Jackson found it very upsetting that the media paid little attention to Biden’s cognitive impairment in 2020 when Jackson himself was vying for a seat in Congress. He retweeted a video of Biden’s “latest cognitive misadventure” with the message: “Remember the cognitive test that I gave @realDonaldTrump? The one he aced! Sounds like somebody else might need some testing done!! Scary!!”
Jackson received a “scathing” email from President Obama 20 minutes after that tweet.
“I have made a point of not commenting on your service in my successor’s administration and have always spoken highly of you both in public and in private. You always served me and my family well, and I have considered you not only a fine doctor and service member but also a friend,” Obama wrote in the email.
“That’s why I have to express my disappointment at the cheap shot you took at Joe Biden via Twitter. It was unprofessional and beneath the office that you once held. It was also disrespectful to me and the many friends you had in our administration. You were the personal physician to the President of the United States as well as an admiral in the U.S. Navy. I expect better, and I hope upon reflection that you will expect more of yourself in the future,” Obama told Jackson.
As per Foxnews, Jackson was taken aback and frazzled by the email, so he ultimately decided not to reply. Jackson recalled debating whether to call the outgoing president but decided against it after his friend, radio host, and conservative commentator Dan Bongino pointed out that Obama took no action while Jackson was facing a confirmation fight in the Senate to serve as Trump’s secretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“So, upon reflection, I thought, You know what? Screw that guy! I’m not doing it,” Jackson wrote.”I just walked away from it, which was the last time I had any contact with [Obama],” Jackson wrote. Obama did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Jackson told Fox News Digital, “It’s awfully ironic now, considering [Biden’s mental fitness] is all anyone, including the liberal media, can talk about.”
“Let it be known, as the White House physician for the last three presidents, I was the first to say that we have a serious problem with this man’s cognitive demise, and he will not make it four years in office. I’ve always said there would come a point where it wouldn’t be just me talking about it, but his own party, and sadly, that has proven to be the case. Joe Biden’s cognitive failures are on full display for the whole world to see,” Jackson said.
“Holding the Line,” which details Jackson’s ascent to the White House as a Navy doctor, his interactions with the three presidents he served, and his early political career while the political left was out to destroy him, comes out on July 26.
